60 MINUTES stands by its story as truthful, accurate
and fair. Lance Armstrong and his lawyers were
given numerous opportunities to respond to
every detail of our reporting for weeks prior
to the broadcast and their written responses were
fairly and accurately included in the story. Mr. Armstrong
still has not addressed charges by teammates Tyler
Hamilton and George Hincapie that he used performance
enhancing drugs with them.

The letter from Keker & Van Nest, Mr. Armstrong's
attorneys, claims that there was no “positive” or
“suspicious” test from the 2001 Tour de Suisse: Mr.
Armstrong's teammate, Tyler Hamilton, told 60 MINUTES about
the 2001 Tour de Suisse test. Included
in his interview are the same facts that Hamilton
reported under oath to U.S. federal officials under the
penalty of perjury.

60 MINUTES also reported that the Swiss
Anti-Doping Laboratory Director, Dr. Martial Saugy, told
U.S. officials and the FBI that that there was a
“suspicious” test result from the Tour de Suisse in
2001. This was confirmed by a number
of international officials who have linked the
"suspicious" test to Armstrong. In recent days, Dr.
Saugy finally confirmed to the media that there
were "suspicious" test results.

The letter from Armstrong’s attorneys claims that 60
MINUTES was inaccurate in
reporting about a meeting between Dr. Saugy,
Mr. Armstrong and former U.S. Postal Team Director, Johan
Bruyneel: 60 Minutes reported there was a meeting between
Dr. Saugy, Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Bruyneel. Dr. Saugy
refused our requests for an interview, but after the broadcast he
confirmed that the meeting took place. Mr. Armstrong, after
our broadcast, said he couldn’t recall that any such meeting took
place.

Mr. Armstrong's lawyers claim our story was "shoddy," while we
found at least three inaccuracies in their letter: They
claimed that 60 MINUTES reported the meeting took place at the
Swiss lab; they claimed that 60 MINUTES reported the meeting took
place in 2001; and they claimed that 60 MINUTES said it was a
"secret" meeting. All three are wrong.

David Howman, managing director of the World Anti-Doping Agency,
told 60 MINUTES that any meeting between
Mr.Armstrong, Mr. Brunyeel and the Swiss lab director, Dr. Saugy,
would be "highly unusual” and “inappropriate.”